THE PALAS OF BENGAL. 105 



Bengal formed a part of his kingdom, and also that the Varmman Dynasty had 

 ceased to reign. The kingdom was bounded on the East by that of Nanyadeva 

 in Mithila and that of Madanapala in Magadha. Vijayasena must have reigned for at 

 L <*th f r ten- S c l eas t forty years, as his newly-discovered copper-plate grant 

 cessors and relations: In- was issued in the 37th year of his reign. He was succeeded 

 scnptions. ^y j^ gon Vallalasena, and the name of his wife Vilasadevi 



is known to us both from his own copper-plate grant and that of his son. Only two 

 inscriptions of Vijayasena have been discovered up to date. The most important 

 one is the Deopara prasasti, recording the erection of the temple of Pradyumnesvara, 

 which must form the basis of all new accounts of the Sena Dynasty, for some years 

 to come. The other inscription is the newly-discovered copper-plate grant, which 

 was brought to me for decipherment by a friend several years ago, but which I am 

 unable to trace at present. This plate records the grant of a village to a Brahmana 

 of Sandilya Gotra as the daksina of the Tulapunisa ceremony performed by the 

 Queen Vilasadevi, and was issued from Vikrampura in the 37th year of the King. 

 Vijayasena's death seems to have taken place about the year 1108 a.d. Vijayasena 

 was succeeded by his son Vallalasenadeva, who seems to have been an aged man 

 when he came to the throne. His name is well known throughout Bengal as the 

 founder of Kulinism. But as neither his own copper-plates nor those of his son 

 Laksmanasena contain any references to Kulinism, even when referring to Brahmanas 

 to whom land was granted, the legend about its origin should be accepted with great 

 caution. The whole system may be of much later origin and of no historical impor- 

 tance at all. Vallalasena 's dates, as found in some works on Law and Astronomy, 

 the authorship of which are ascribed to him, are misleading. These dates are found 

 in some verses in the Danasagara, a work on Law, and in the Adbhutasagara, a work 

 on Astronomy. I have pointed out elsewhere that these verses are not to be found 

 in all manuscripts of these two works, and should, therefore betaken as later addi- 

 tions. 1 According to these verses, the Danasagara was compiled by Vallalasena in 

 s. 1091 = 1169 a.d. £ and the Adbhutasagara was began by him in s. 1090 = 1168 a.d. 3 

 Mr. Manomohan Chakravartti has discovered another verse in the Danasagara, accord- 

 ing to which Vallalasena ascended the throne in S. 1081 = 1159 a.d/, but these verses 

 are hardly of an historical importance, as they appear to be later additions. If, on 

 later enquiry, these verses can be found in all the manuscripts discovered, even then 

 they cannot be accepted as basis for the construction of a chronology, so long as they 

 are to be found in modern manuscripts. If they can be found in manuscript records 

 of the 12th and 13th century a.d., then only these dates can be accepted as correct. 

 I have tried to show elsewhere that the Bodh-Gaya inscriptions of Asokacalla 5 prove 

 that Laksmanasena died before 1070 a.d.,' s consequently, unless some contemporary 



l J.A.S.B., Vol. IX (New Series), p. 272. 



* Ibid., 1896, Pt. I, p. 23 ; Eggeling's Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. in India Office Libraiy, p 545. 

 3 Bhandarkar's Report on the Search for Sanskrit MSS. during 1887 — 88 and 1890 — 91, p. lxxxv. 



* J.A.S.B. (N. S.), 1906, p. 17, Note. 



5 Cunningham's Mahabodhi, p. 78, and Ind. Ant., Vol. X, p. 341. 



6 J.A.S.B. (N. S.), Vol. IX, p. 272. 



